Year of the Dragon — Celebrating the Lunar New Year
February is finally here and that means the Lunar New Year is a week away! This year, the Lunar New Year falls on Saturday, February 10th, and it’s the Year of the Dragon.
With the Lunar New Year coming up, and as a proud biracial Korean American, I wanted to take some time to share a few of my favorite things for the Lunar New Year and share how my family will be celebrating.
Enjoy this picture of Baby Sheena in her hanbok
One of my absolute favorite kids stores is Mochi Kids, which is a small business owned by another biracial Asian American mom. I’m not joking when I say that this store truly has some of the cutest apparel and toys. The boys and I have the rice, kimchi, bibimbap, and yogurt drink shirts (and we don’t have affiliate links for them…I’m truly just a customer that loves their stuff). This year, they have a special tee in honor of the Lunar New Year! You can also find books and other toys/items related to the Lunar New Year on their website, including one of my favorite books Tomorrow is New Year's Day by Aram Kim. We checked out this book from our local library last year, and I read the book to the boys to help them learn more about Lunar New Year and Seollal, the Korean Lunar New Year celebration. The back of the book includes Korean pronunciations for some of the words found throughout the story.
Growing up, I never went to Korean classes. My mom was the first in her family to immigrate to the US, so I think she used it as an opportunity to practice her English. When we would visit our family in Korea, I’d pick up the language quickly, but then just as quickly lose it when returning home. While I still remember some phrases and can definitely understand more than I can say, I wish I was more fluent in Korean to teach the boys. As I’ve gotten older and my grandparents have passed, I also worry about losing my Korean culture and identity, and have been eager to find ways to keep it alive in the boys. Celebrating the Lunar New Year is one way that I’ve tried to teach the boys about their heritage and keep our culture alive. Each year, we eat the traditional tteokguk (rice cake soup) that I’ve learned to make from scratch. I’ve also found a great mandu recipe (Korean dumplings) that I’ve been using for the past year, so we’ll make those as well for our celebration. Growing up, we used to wish my grandparents a happy new year, and would practice in the car ride over how to say it to them in Korean. We’d bow while reciting the words (with probably horrible Korean pronunciation) and my grandparents would smile and give us an envelope of money. This year I’m planning to start the tradition of giving the boys money as another way to celebrate the Lunar New Year with them. You can find ornate pouches online or at your local Asian market to put the money in, or you can use an envelope (doesn’t have to be anything fancy). The rituals are all about bringing in a prosperous new year and paying respect to our elders.
Here are some other fun items for the Lunar New Year:
Books
Miscellaneous
Does your family celebrate the Lunar New Year? If so, what are some of your favorite traditions?
Enjoy one more throwback picture of Sheena, her sister - Leigha, and their cabbage patch doll in hanboks.
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